CHAPTER FOURTEEN
BRUCE'S REPORT
During her off hours next day Nancy went back to see Bruce. She foundhim propped up, having his lunch.
"How much better you look!" she said.
He smiled at her brightly. "You gave me a new lease on life last night."
She laughed, and suddenly he glanced up from his bowl of soup with anexpression of appraisal. "Say, but you're pretty!" he said after hisinspection. "Much prettier than those pictures Tommy had."
Nancy was glad she had left her hair unbound and taken pains with hermake-up. But she flushed and said, "Don't you dare hand me blarney,Bruce Williams. I'm too tall to be pretty."
"The idea! I hear that's the kind they're hunting for the New Yorkshows now--tall gals."
"Tommy's only one inch taller than I am, and our coloring and eyes areso much alike--no wonder you thought my eyes were his last night.Everyone says we do look lots alike."
"Sure do."
"People used to take us for twins when we were growing up."
"It's the eyes that are so much alike--something in those Dale eyesthat goes straight to your heart."
She sat down on a packing box by his bed and said, "I wanted to ask youlast night how you finally got away from those Japs."
"I guess God just answered my prayers and sent our own boys to MankaIsland."
"Oh, were you there when they took it?"
"That's where they kept the ones who weren't able to work in theirfields. I'd been better off if I could have worked. They get more foodI hear, and have a better chance to store up supplies for escape."
"We've had some accounts back home from those who escape," she toldhim. "But just how were you freed?"
"Those Japs just cleared out and left us to our fate when the firinggot too warm. Some of our own men were killed by the American firing.That's how I got the spatter of shrapnel in my side."
"It must have been marvelous to see your own countrymen coming ashoreon that island," she said.
"You're tellin' me!" he exclaimed. "Santa Claus at Christmas when I wasa kid, was never more welcome than those khaki uniforms coming inthrough the jungle."
"Had you been on the same island all the time?"
He nodded as he finished his soup and pushed the bowl to one side ofthe tray. "I haven't a very clear idea of the location," he admitted."I never paid much attention to the directions. My job was to spillthose bombs at the right place. I didn't worry about the rest."
He cleared a place on the tray and began to draw an imaginary map withhis finger. "See, it was something like this. Here's Australia, andover here's New Caledonia where we took off, and here're the islands weheaded for."
"Wait a minute," said Nancy. "I'll get a map, then you can sketch me amore detailed plan of the area you operated in."
"Sure," agreed Bruce. Then a shadow crossed his face. "But what's theuse? We can't go out there and look for Tommy."
"Who knows?" she asked, stubbornly clinging to her hopes. "I maysometime get to the islands. I want to hear every detail you can recallabout the location."
"Of course, I'll do the map for you." Then he added hastily, "But don'tgo for paper now."
"Sure. I'll get that later. But right now I want you to tell meeverything you can remember about that last trip with Tommy."
"I could never forget any detail of it. Did you know it was Tommy'slast mission before he would be free to go home?"
Nancy's heart almost stopped beating for a moment. "No, I didn't! Hehad written us he was almost through, however, and would be coming homesoon."
"It's that last flight that generally gives our pilots the jitters,"Bruce explained. "And the last five or six are no picnics."
"I can well imagine that."
"Naturally we had our bird tuned up and checked down to the last bolt.She took off, singing as sweet as any lark as we flew into thenorthwest. We had spilled our load on some Jap oil tankers and were onour way back when those nasty Zeros knocked one of our engines out ofcommission."
"How about the crew?"
"O.K. then, but the next hail of fire got our co-pilot, Jack Turner.Tom kept his head until the other engine began to sputter. For a whilehe tried to make it closer to our own territory, but it was no go."
Nancy was folding the hem of the sheet into tight little creases whileshe listened tensely. "Then you had to jump?" she asked.
Bruce nodded again. "Every man knew his job, of course. We had done ittime and again in practice. I destroyed my bombsight. All our bombs hadalready been spilled, but I saw that the bomb-bay doors were tightlyclosed, ready for the plane to hit the water."
"What was the use of taking all those precautions when you had to jumpanyhow?"
"You know that bombsight, Nancy, is America's own prize possession. Nobombardier leaves that for anybody to investigate. St. Peter wouldn'tever let anybody through the pearly gates who had left that littleinstrument intact behind him."
Nancy smiled in spite of her heavy heart. "I don't see how you can keepup your joking like that."
"Better to laugh than cry."
Janice, who was on duty, came to take Bruce's tray away. When she hadgone Nancy asked, "You didn't see Tommy jump after you hit the water?"
"No. I think he meant to ditch the plane after we were out. He lovedthat bird like something human. He meant to stick to her till the lastminute."
"Then you think he went down with her to the bottom--like a captainwith his ship?"
"Oh, no! If he landed on the water O.K. there'd be a few minutes whenhe could get out and try to swim to one of the rubber boats."
"Oh, you had rubber boats?"
"Sure! Pete Crawford, our radio man, pulled the levers to release thelife boats just before he jumped. You know, they inflate as they godown. Vernon Goodwin, our top gunner, had filled them with water, foodsupplies and navigation instruments."
"Did you find one of them when you jumped?"
"We were lucky. Pete and I came down close together and reached one ofthe boats. We might have made it somewhere with the provisions we had,if those Japs hadn't picked us up before dark."
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_"Did You See Tommy Jump?" Nancy Asked Bruce_]
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"If you saw Tommy still in the air after you got into the boat he musthave been too far away to swim to any of the other boats after he hitthe water."
"I've worried a lot about that," Bruce told her. "But it looked to meas though the plane was turned back in our direction. There was awooded island on the horizon, and pretty soon our ship was so low welost sight of it behind those trees."
"An island!" exclaimed Nancy. "Do you think Tommy might have swum toit?"
"That was our only hope for Tommy and the others. Some jumped after wedid, and might have come down nearer that island. Pete and I startedpaddling in that direction, but we'd both been hurt and the distanceswere deceiving. My cracked leg had begun to swell, and any movement wasagony. Pete checked out clean for a spell, and I was afraid he wasgone. Before we realized what had happened the island was nowhere to beseen."
Nancy smoothed out his sheet, and sat silent. After a moment she said,"Bruce, when you draw that map of the islands write down the names ofall Tommy's crew and the positions they held."
"Now why do you want that?"
"I may run across some of the others somewhere. Maybe someone wasnearer Tommy when he ditched and will know what became of him."
"Now don't you go getting your hopes up, Nancy. There's not a chance ina hundred that any of the others will turn up."
"You do what I ask anyhow," persisted Nancy. "When I get home I'llwrite to the families of all the crew and tell them what I know. Eventhough there may be no hope, it's some comfort to know the details."
"I suppose that would give our relatives some satisfaction," Bruce
admitted. "I've been so full of my own woes since I got back I haven'tthought of the folks back home wanting to hear about the others."
"Who in your condition wouldn't be preoccupied with his own woes?"asked Nancy understandingly. "But we're going to have you on your feetagain before too long."
Nancy did all in her power to speed Bruce's recovery in the weeks thatfollowed. She felt a real personal pride in his improvement. At lastthere came a day when he was able to walk to the recreation room withonly the aid of a stick and her arm. The nurses had fixed up this roomfor the use of convalescing patients.
"I mustn't get well too fast," Bruce said with a twinkle in his nicegray eyes, "or they'll be sending me away from here."
Bruce was sitting opposite Nancy at a game of bridge that day, and shethought how really handsome he was, now that he had shaved off hisbeard, and his gaunt cheeks were beginning to fill out.
Pat Walden, the one-armed chap, for whom Nancy had finally made theapple pie, sat opposite Mabel. Nancy had devised a rack with nailsdriven through wood for Pat to stand his cards in while he played withhis one hand. Her mother had sent out some magazines, published for thehandicapped in the states. Nancy and Pat had quite an interesting timeexploring the back issues in search of gadgets to help the one-armed.The magazines had gone the rounds of others who must begin life allover with various handicaps. Pat had a way of making jokes about histrouble, and Nancy had played the game with him as he learned to dothings with one hand.
Many of the boys, however, were sullen and sensitive about theirafflictions, and with these the nurses had to pretend that theirhandicaps didn't exist. Though the wounds in Bruce's side had been slowin healing, and he would always limp from the improperly knit leg bone,at least his body was whole, and the doctors assured him he would bestrong again.
At the moment the number of cases was slightly reduced in number. Manyof the earlier patients had been sent to ports to be taken home onships that brought nurses and men over.
"I heard a rumor today," said Mabel, "that we may be moved soon--out tothe islands."
"Soon?" asked Nancy eagerly.
"Don't know. I just got a whiff of a change."
"Nothing would thrill me more."
Bruce threw down a card with vigor and glanced across at hisfellow-sufferer. "That's the way they treat us, Pat. Eager to leave usto our fate."
"You'll be moving on yourselves before too long," Nancy assured him.
"Just when I'm beginning to enjoy life here," said Bruce, "Nancy looksforward to leaving me."
Nancy flushed, seeing the other two at the table figuratively cocktheir ears.
"Oh, you'll soon be able to get along without any nursing," Nancyassured him.
"I can never get along again in this life without you," he told her,regardless of their audience.
"Say, what's all this?" burst forth Mabel. "A public proposal in broadopen daylight?"
"Don't be silly!" exclaimed Nancy.
Bruce laughed heartily at Nancy's chagrin. "Thanks a lot, Mabel, forhelping me out. I've been trying to figure out a good opening for aproposal for the last week."
"You'll surely have to make an improvement before I'll accept you,"stated Nancy, triumphantly trumping Bruce's ace.
Bruce looked from Mabel to Pat Walden, and said mischievously, "You'llboth stand witness that she's practically accepted me."
"Stick to your card playing, Bruce," said Nancy pertly. "This is notime to settle down to marriage. We have a war to win."
"But it's not too early to begin making plans for the peace," heretorted promptly.
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